Last April, Malcolm Young left AC/DC, the band he co-founded with his brother Angus in 1973. Only 61 years old, the guitarist found himself unable to remember his famous licks and riffs. The cause, doctors discovered, was dementia. Young now lives in a nursing home where he receives full-time care.

Above, you can watch a video created by the Brazilian radio station 89FM, where, touchingly, elderly Brazilians, also suffering from dementia, listen to the sounds of AC/DC and summon to mind their younger, carefree days, when rock provided their soundtrack to their youth. Long live rock...

To understand why music seems to trigger memories in unusual ways, and how music therapy can be used to improve the lives of those with dementia, see the research covered at Live Science.

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Open Culture editor Dan Colman scours the web for the best educational media. He finds the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & movies you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.